10 Richest Mobile Game Companies

Nowadays, the tag line in gaming is “portability”. More and more mobile devices started to offer their fair share of games and the consumers saw an opportunity to relax while on the go. “Snake” is probably the first mobile game that created a trend and everyone was extremely hyped to score as many points in this black and white, 8 bit revival of the 1976 concept. As time passed, mobile games became more and more complex and, as a result, we can currently talk about a proper industry that develops and publishes mobile means of entertainment. In what follows we’ll try and list 10 of the most prolific mobile game developers as ranked by their yearly revenue. The information presented is as fresh as we could possibly manage to find it on the developers’ websites or on other financial analyses dedicated online platforms. This list does not necessarily coincide with the 8 best android games in the world.

10. Gameloft – $274 millionGameloft is a mobile game developer and publisher located in Paris, France, but it also has 20 other subsidiaries around the world. It was founded in 2000 by Michel Guillemot and Josh Closson one of the co-founders and owners of Ubisoft. The most recent information about Gameloft’s revenues dates from 2015 and shows a total of $274 million. As of 2008 they offer an online service where players can check their rankings among other facilities. Some of the most popular titles released by Gameloft are: Asphalt 8: Airborne, Order & Chaos Online, The Oregon Trail and Assassin’s Creed.

9. Com2uS – $361 millionCom2uS is a Korean mobile game publisher founded in 1998 by three university students. They managed to gain international popularity after they released their key title – the RPG Summoners War. This title not only offered them influence on the western markets, but also helped them reach their $361 million revenue for the 2015 fiscal year. Besides the aforementioned gaming title, Com2uS is also known for Ace Fishing, Golf Star and Slice it!, a game that in 2011 had over 10 million downloads on iOs and Android and won the 2011 Best App Ever Awards.

8. Kabam – $400 million Kabam is a company founded in 2006 and headquartered in San Francisco. It focuses on creating massively multiplayer social games that put an emphasis on the MMORPG style, with immersive stories and gameplay mechanics. Kingdoms of Camelot is a title that brought them into the lime light and it even became one of the first successful strategy games on Facebook. In 2015 they shifted towards creating AAA mobile gaming titles like che just to give an example. Their 2015 registered income showed a total of $400 million.

7. EA Mobile – $524 millionEA Mobile is a mobile video game development studio directly related to the publisher Electronic Arts. It was founded back in 2004 and its primary business is creating an extensive variety of gaming genres such as puzzles, fighting games and sports titles. They are best known for the mobile version of The Sims, Need for Speed, FIFA and Bejeweled. In addition to these, they hold the license for Tetris and various Monopoly games. As a result of the great success these titles acquired over time, EA Mobile registered a total revenue of $524 million, as shown by their 2015 fiscal files.

6. Zynga – $765 millionZynga is a San Francisco based social media video game developer established in 2007. It produces gaming titles that work both on mobile phone platforms and on the Web through its website, zynga.com, and social media sites. Its most famous game, FarmVille, was released in 2009 on Facebook and registered 10 million active users within 6 weeks. Some other renowned titles are: FarmVille 2, Texas HoldEm Poker and ChefVille. Being so fruitful, Zynga managed to reach a peak of $765 million in revenue during the fiscal period of 2015.

5. Netmarble Games – $900 millionNetmarble Games is a Korean developer that produces mobile gaming titles. In its home country it holds a dominant position, being well known for a casual, Monopoly-like game named Everyone’s Marble. Other titles that sparked the public interest are Raven (called Evilbane in the west), Seven Knights, Monster Taming and above all: Marvel Future Fight. Netmarble’s financial success can be easily identified from the total revenue of $900 million recorded in 2015. It’s not only popular in the East, but it also managed to gain a foothold in the Western markets.

4. Machine Zone – $1.1 billionMachine Zone is a company that develops games for mobile platforms. It is based in Palo Alto, California and was founded in 2008. Their impressive revenue of $1.1 billion is mainly generated by two of their games: Game of War: Fire Age and Mobile Strike, both of them being ranked among the top ten highest-grossing mobile gaming titles. Celebrities like Kate Upton and Mariah Carey have been part of their promotional videos made for Game of War and Arnold Schwarzenegger participated in a commercial for Mobile Strike.

3. GungHo Online Entertainment – $1.5 billionGungHo Online Entertainment is a Japanese company that develops games for mobile platforms. They were primarily known for creating Ragnarok DS for the Nintendo DS but another game is the one that brought them the most money. Puzzle & Dragons is the title that helped them become popular and, at the same time, earn a total revenue of $1.5 billion. They have a very significant impact on the Japanese mobile games market and are currently trying to expand their influence to the western markets as well.

2. King – $2 billionKing Digital Entertainment is the company behind the most popular social media based game: Candy Crush Saga. This developer was founded in 2003 in Sweden and even though at first their business hit a brick wall, they managed to surpass their financial difficulties and become one of the richest mobile games developers with a revenue of $2 billion as stated for 2015. Besides Candy Crush Saga that won the Best Social Game award in 2013, they are also renowned for Bubble Witch Saga, Pet Rescue Saga and Diamond Digger Saga.

1. Supercell – $2.11 billionSupercell is a mobile game developer based in Helsinki, Finland and founded in 2010. They produce freemium titles and they have been very industrious releasing a number of very successful games. Clash of Clans is probably their most illustrious label and together with Hay Day brought them considerable income along the years. They did so well in their business they managed to amount an impressive $2.11 billion in revenue and become the richest mobile game company in the world. They are not just extremely profitable, but their employees also broke the record for the biggest charity donation made by workers in the history of Finland: 3.4 million euros.